ISRAEL

Israel seeks to be waging a war of genocide against the Palestinians. They all continue to encroach on the West Bank. Are they hoping to provoke another Hamas type reaction that would justify the ethnic cleansing of the area? In retrospect (not always a good or practical thing I know) could it be that Netanyahu colluded in the build up of Hamas arms to enable the present situation to develop – he was hot prepared for the scale of tye Hamas attack. The USA has come running to his aid with not so veiled threats towards Hezbollah and Iran.

it seems that Israel has a carte blanche to totally destroy Hamas in its present format, and in doing so destroying the dwelings and lives of over a million Palestinians. From River to the Sea seems to be a more apt descrpition of Israeli actions than Palestian ones.

ANTI-ISRAEL DEMONSTRATIONS

Ministers seem to want to dictate the narrative regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict. Already we have the majority of te MSM being weighted towards Israel. Braverman has referred to the demo’s as Hate Events. Surelybanyone with a conscience should condemn both the senseless slaughter by Hamas and the subsequent slaughter of Palestinian children and citizens. I did not agree with Starmers comments on the conflict, but he did offer a narrative which could be discussed. The Tories just want the Israeli’s “to win” whatever that means. Demonstrators around the world are expressing a support for Palestine which has been subjugated by the state of Israel for 50 years. This does NOT mean that they support Hamas. However te Israeli occupation and disrimination of/in the West Bank continues.

The Israeli Government will no doubt use Hamas to justify ever increasing militarisation and subjugation of remaining Palestinians in the region. By its unwavering support for Israel the West has lost all opportunities to mediate and find a long term solution.

SYSTEM FAULT

The Covid Inquiry is revealing the expected chaos and incompetence; individuals failing to see past their own egos and agendas. The Inquiry will document these in full. What is of greater concern is the failure of the system.

Westminster is being shown as a misogynist unrepresentative cohort of egos. This is true of both the politicians and the cicil servants. It seems that advice was sought and dismissed in an ad hoc manner. Meetings were too large and populated with more concern for status that effectiveness, Johnson was riven by delusions of grandeur and a desire to be a Churchillian figurehead. There appears to have been no real leadership. many have talked about the reactive nature of this government in many areas and for a long time. This continues to be true. The way in which key figures are moved around is reflective of this lack of leadership and competence. It now appears that the Civil Service is not capable of countering this merry-go-round. Diversity of politicans was culled by Brexit. Civil servants appear to be even more uniform in their white, male, middle aged, middle/upper class profile.

So Labour must learn from this if it is going to successfully navigate the crises that will inevitably occur in the future (assuming it wins the next GE!). Starmer is showing signs of falling for the subservient cabinet fallacy. A truly great leader would have a variety of views which creates a wide ranging discussion, but also reslults in Cabinet Responsibility. His retention of

GAZA

It is difficult to side with Israel despite the atrocities of 7 October. By their own admission tey have hit 11000 targets in Gaza, including some where they advised people to go for safety. On the West Bank a village has been deserted by its inhabitants due to the intimidation of Israelis, including members of armed forces. It really does seem that the Israelis are pursuing a policy of colonisation of the area from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea. The river to the sea policy which is advocated by extremists on both sides.

There urgently needs to be an internationally acceptab;e exit strategy.

COVID INQUIRY

OMG – the evidence is piling up to prove that the government was in total chaos Dom Cummins has spilled the beans – he himself is not above criticism – but any criticism of him reflects badly on those who promoted him in the first place. Total incompetence at all times has been laid bare, and we have not got on to the corruption associated with PPE and Test & trace.

GREEN AGENDA

Incompetence or calculation? In March 2020 the government pledged a £950 rapid charging fund to enable the transition to electric cars. As of today the amount spent is zero! Motorway service stations are waiting years for connection. Moto has asked just for the provision of the power, not a subsidy. Yet another hit for our climate change commitments.

On climate change – Storm Ciaran is on its way. A Greenpeace report has revealed that a huge number of flood prevention schemes are in poor repair (4204 in poor or very poor condition)… The North has had extensive flooding in some areas, now it is the turn of the South west. Checking the tide it seems that we are just past the spring tide maximum but still expect a tide over 11m. With high wind speeds and low pressure this could cause problems along the Somerset Coast. When will Sunak and Co realise that climate change is detrimental to the British Isles?

7 NOVEMBER

The King’s Speech on 7 November will set out the legislative programme for the (hopefully) last throes of this government.. It comes at a time when world peace is in peril, as is the balance in British Society. government Ministers banging on about anti-semitism is only likely to increase it. Discrimination and hatred must be confronted whether it is based on religion, sexuality, race or gender. End of. this is probably out of order, but it is my blog and no one reads it anyhow. Integration! Immigrants need to be integrated into society. that does not mean converting them to Christianity or the greedy capitalism of this government, nor the bigotry of the right. But it does mean welcoming them into our society, and developing a sharing of values and ideas and cultures. it seems that this element, so vital to the functioning of a tolerant society has been missing. English language classes have closed. Faith schools have sprung up – personally I would like to see the closure of all faith schools of all religions and strict rules on what can be taught. Groups can arrange their own lessons if they deem it necessary. The wearing of the kippah and hijab abd jib discouraged. (but not banned).

Reference by politicans and others to anti-semitism and islamaphobia should be minimised with these refered to as hate crimes along with homophobic, sexist, misogynistic and racist comments and actions. All these should be treated in the same way as paedophibia is – zero tolerance.

The second element of the King’s Speech is likely to be the appeasemnt to the oil companies. The war we should be raging is against climate change. Every change in environmental, housing, transport, social policy should be taking into consideration the future of our planet. With flooding likely in the south over the next few days it is time Sunak got real on the environment. Too many of the new homes required are built on flood plains with little regard to geographical understanding! Labour is back-tracking on a right to roam legislation as is being introduced in Scotland. If this was introduced it could be possible to compensate for lack of gardens with free and widespread access to the countryside.

massive investment in up grading the national grid is urgently required to enable clean energy to be produced and accessed. Smaller scale projects should also be encouraged with local investment supported by national funding. With nearly 20% of the population living in ruarl areas and the same again in small towns the opportunity for locally produced and used energy is immense and cost efficient (over 50% of energy produced is lost before consumption!

A joined up transport policy is urgently needed.

Education needs a complete overhaul.

The new government will face tasks not seen since 1945 – let us hope they are up for/to it!

SYMBIOSIS

Horrible people need others to blame and to justify their depraved policies. Braverman needs the small boats and their migrants – however Netmanyaho and Hamas take this to a mutually beneficial level. They both need each other to justify their heinious crimes.

ISRAEL

So Israel is banning UN Personnel from entering tjhe country as it does not like what Guetes has said! Have western democracies been negligent in not bringing Israel to account earlier? Israel seems to believe it has a carte blanche to wreak whatever atricities it likes on Palestinians with impunity. Any criticism is soon met with a mention of the holocaust. Israel has now attacked Syria – almost goading them into a reaction. Is this in the hope of the west then endorsing them even more.

If you are just joining us, here are some highlights from Tuesday’s UN Security Council meeting in New York. I fully agree with Guterres statement.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire to end “epic suffering” in Gaza and that “no party to an armed conflict is above international humanitarian law”

  • He also said the Hamas attack on October 7 “did not happen in a vaccum”. That drew an angry response from Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who wrote on X, describing Guterres’ statement as “shocking” and “disconnected from the reality in our region”. He added that he would cancel his meeting with the UN chief
  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated that every country has the right to defend itself and that “we must unequivocally condemn Hamas’s barbaric terrorist attack against Israel”. But he added that “humanitarian pauses must be considered” to protect civilians in Gaza
  • Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry called for a ceasefire, expressing “regret” over the Security Council’s failure to adopt a resolution calling for one